Why Growing Your Business Feels So Chaotic

Why Growing Your Business Feels So Chaotic

From Tea with the Queen by Emma McQueen

May 31, 2026 · 20 min · Season 6 · Episode 123

About this episode

This episode discusses the challenges of navigating the chaotic phase of business growth between $100k and $500k in revenue.

If you’re somewhere between $100k and $500k in revenue and thinking, “Why does this feel harder now?”, welcome to the messy middle of business. You’re not in the startup phase anymore, but you’re also not running a calm, well oiled machine. Things are working… but they’re also not working. In this season, the chaos isn’t a sign you’re failing. It’s feedback. More clients, more moving parts, more expectations, and suddenly the cracks show. You drop balls, your calendar becomes a mess, and the old strategies that used to work stop feeling reliable. We’ll talk about the sneaky pipeline drought that hits right after a strong quarter, why undercharging becomes obvious in this phase, and how “doing everything yourself” turns into the biggest bottleneck. This is also where mindset matters, because growth can mess with your confidence even when revenue is rising. If you’re in the messy middle of business, here are your next steps: keep the pipeline warm, price for outcomes, delegate one draining task, and know your numbers (profit, not just revenue). The messy middle isn’t permanent, but it does require a new way of operating. Mentioned in this episode: Tracey Rudich - Intimo - Instagram…

People in this episode

Host: Emma McQueen

Topics covered

  • business growth
  • chaos in business
  • mindset
  • pricing strategies
  • delegation
  • pipeline management

Keywords

  • messy middle
  • business challenges
  • growth mindset
  • revenue
  • delegation
  • pricing
  • pipeline

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Intimo, Instagram

More episodes of Tea with the Queen

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Tea with the Queen podcast page.